About Doug Rice and the Josh Ritter Fansite

A little background on your Josh Ritter Fansite host, Doug Rice

I started this section for several reasons: to let people know that it's just me running this huge thing (so be patient with requests for live cd's and such!), give a little inside story on how this website came to be, and to keep the Fansite what it has always been: a (very) candid, personal, and friendly endeavor of mine, amongst friends and fellow music lovers.

The Josh Ritter Fansite

The Josh Ritter Fansite started in the Fall of 2003, when I purchased "DougRice.net" and felt the need to spread the word about the best singer/songwriter I've come across, Josh Ritter.

My introduction to Josh was very similar to most people's; a couple years ago I was driving my car and listening to the radio (the coolest station in the country, public radio 90.5 The Night in New Jersey) and the song "Golden Age of Radio" came on. I pulled over and waited for the d.j. to give me the name. Wrote down "Josh Ritter" and purchased the cd the next day. I was a big fan, and got to see Josh and the band perform for the first time at "The Saint" in Asbury Park, NJ. The songs I had come to love on 'Golden Age' were a treat to hear, but I was blown away by the songs I didn't know -- songs that would later be released on "Hello Starling." My bro and I couldn't wait to hear those songs again, so we drove to several of Josh's shows over the next couple weeks to hear 'em again.

Since graduating from Villanova University in 1996, my main field of expertise has been in the movie biz, more specifically in "Development." At Villanova as a 'movie buff' and someone who loved the art of cinema, I became a Communications major who concentrated on Film Studies. After graduation, I had a chance to become a "Story Analyst" for a small company that considered tv/movie projects for actor Danny Aiello (Moonstruck, Do The Right Thing). [A Story Analyst is someone who reads, then analyzes by writing a critical 'review',' a movie screenplay on its artistic and commercial merit. The analyses act as guides for movie studios/producers/directors/actors to find a worthy project.] After a couple years working for Danny Aiello, I moved into New York City and began doing Story Analysis for 20th Century Fox. From there, I had the opportunity to go work for acclaimed director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia), which I jumped at. It was only a short stint to help Demme and his small office out, but I treasured this time, pitching in and analyzing screenplays for such an amazing artist. After, I pursued work with my dream company, Miramax Films, and got the call.

The "Day Job(s)"

With Josh at the Newport Folk Festival - August 7, 2004

To make a long story short: after many shows, beers, miles on the car's odometer, and time in front of the computer trying to let other music lovers know about Josh Ritter, the "Josh Ritter Fansite" was born. For the record, I don't know anything about website design or how it works; I built this site from scratch, line by line, with a basic webpage builder program, and still do.

Contrary to popular belief, the Josh Ritter Fansite is just something I do in my free time - a hobby that I couldn't enjoy more. My college major was not "Spreading the Word about Josh Ritter." I pay the rent with two very different careers, though one has overtaken the other recently...

MOVIE BIZ

For most of 2000, I worked at Miramax Films - coordinating movie premieres, marketing, and mainly analyzing screenplays. But a relationship at Jonathan Demme's office led to a phone call from the office of director Penny Marshall (Big, A League of Their Own, Awakenings). Actor Steve Zahn (That Thing You Do, Happy Texas, Saving Silverman) asked if I would be his assistant on his next movie, Penny Marshall's "Riding in Cars with Boys" with Drew Barrymore and James Woods. As a fan of Zahn's work, I accepted. We worked on the set of this film until February 2001. I then met with actor Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, Michael Collins), and he hired me to be his Assistant on the film K19: The Widowmaker with Harrison Ford. This was going to be a project of a lifetime, shooting in Montreal, Moscow Russia, and Iceland....but delays in Liam's shooting of Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York held up production of K19, and my position with Liam was stripped by the studio at the last minute.. Heartbreaking. This freed me up to work with Steve Zahn again, though, and we relocated to Hollywood to shoot National Security with Martin Lawrence. Not a great film, but a great time with Zahn and friends on the West Coast. I was still analyzing screenplays for Miramax Films on the side...

When I returned home in the summer of 2001, and having spent the last 10 months in a movie trailer, I took a break. But like it did for most people, September 11, 2001 changed everything. Miramax Films (located up the street from the World Trade Center) couldn't provide enough work, and I moved out of New York City, back to my hometown on the New Jersey Shore.

Me and Drew Barrymore, in the moments after we filmed the final scene of "Riding in Cars with Boys"

"The wedding scene" brought together most of the cast, including Drew Barrymore, Steve, James Woods, Brittany Murphy, Lorraine Bracco, Sara Gilbert, Dave Moscow, and Desmond Harrington.

Steve and Martin Lawrence shoot a scene for the film "National Security."

Cari Costner, Steve, and me (listening to the scene's dialogue), on the set of "National Security."

Director Penny Marshall directing Steve.

I only do screenplay analysis now in a limited capacity and only consider special projects - scripts from past employers and friends.

TENNIS

Since college, I've had a "backup" career that I enjoyed during the summers of my college years: as a certified Tennis Pro (teaching professional). Though I grew up playing soccer, ice hockey, and lacrosse - tennis became my real passion. I became a U.S.P.T.R. certified "Professional" and taught for several different clubs.

After 9/11, I took a position as a full time Tennis Pro at a large tennis club here at the Jersey Shore, and am now "Head Pro" and Director of the Junior Program there.

...and indoors during the winter.

Sometime in the future, I plan on posting more behind-the-scenes pictures from these two films.

Check back!

While I miss the arts, there are worse jobs than playing and teaching tennis for a living...!

WHERE I AM

...and the beaches are one big beautiful, community backyard for us locals.

It's not ALWAYS like this in Jersey, but we are often blessed with nice waves to surf...

I was born and proudly raised on the New Jersey Shore. The kickass beach town of Manasquan, NJ lies on the coast, just 50 miles south of New York City. Legendary Asbury Park is up the road. Philadelphia is 80 miles west. Atlantic City is 50 miles south.

Manasquan and its neighboring communites are most known and visited for their great beaches and underrated surf spots. Here, you grow up in the sand and in the ocean, surfing and fishing. The "off-season" is blissfully quiet and still a cooler town than most.

MUSIC INTERESTS

It's silly to try and describe how much music means to me. So I won't. But connecting with other music lovers through different artists is a great thing...

I grew up listening to my older brothers' records, which are now considered "Classic Rock." The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones among them. But there is one artist that I was literally RAISED on: Springsteen. And it's not a "Jersey thing." Yes, Bruce Springsteen is somewhat of a religion here on the Jersey Shore and I am an enthusiastic disciple. But he's Springsteen - and they'll never be another artist like him.

There's another artist that I'm passionate about and love listening to, talking about, and learning about: Buddy Holly. Now, Holly was killed decades and decades before I was born -- but I've always had a special appreciation for rock and roll of the 1950's and it's unique spinoff genres like 'doo-wop.' But ever since one of my brothers brought home something called a "compact disc" in the early 80's (Buddy's "Greatest Hits"), I've been a Buddy Holly fanatic. The fact that he was a founding father of rock and roll and killed at only age 22 makes him that much more of a legend. Buddy Holly Lives.

Springsteen.

Me at the Buddy Holly Memorial in Lubbock, Texas.

Most of the music I listen to nowadays revolves around the styles of "Americana", "Contemporary Folk", "Singer/Songwriter", "AltCountry", and "Independent Rock." Currently, I can't get enough of Wilco, Josh Ritter, Mason Jennings, Dan Bern, Steve Earle, Loudon Wainwright III, John Prine, Martin Sexton,The Mavericks, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart, Erin McKeown, David Berkeley, and many more.

And then there's the exciting world of discovering great artists - whether you're one of the first or had been missing out for a long time. There are scores of artists that I'm, for whatever reason, just now getting into. They include: Gomez, Lori McKenna, Jesse Malin, Old Crow Medicine Show, Paddy Casey, Matthew Ryan, Clem Snide, Rod Picott, Old 97's, My Morning Jacket, The Thrills, Slaid Cleaves, and Amy Rigby among others.

...at one of 5 Springsteen concerts last summer...

At the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville...

...and rocking out to Wilco - from the stage - at this year's Newport Folk Festival.

Teaching outside in the summer...

CONTACT

Feel free to drop me an email - whether you have a question about the Josh Ritter Fansite, would like to help promote the music of Josh Ritter through the Street Team, get a few live recordings of Josh's concerts, or just to say 'hey.'

Thanks for supporting this website and the music of Josh Ritter...

[Email Doug]

photo by Doug Rice